The Lovesick Puppy Glare
by anonymousxgenius
Summary: Set in their seventh year. James and Lily don't like each other. James can't help it that his glare makes him look like a 'love- sick puppy'. Title subject to change. JL friendship- very slight romance.
1. The Problem

_NOTE: I am not quite happy with this story yet, so I will be going back to touch it up a bit. It should be pretty minor- no major point turns to the plot. If anything does change, I'll send a note up. For now, enjoy!_

_NOTE #2: As I said, I'm not happy with this story- I don't think I'm up to it yet. I also don't like to go back and change work I've done in the past. I WILL finish up! But, if you like this story idea and would like to give it a try- please read the note at the bottom of Ch. 4 for more details._

_NOTE #3: I've no idea how I forgot a disclaimer... I hereby acknowledge that any and all characters in this story are the property of JK Rowling, unless otherwise stated. _

Ch. 1

**James' P.O.V.**

"Jamie and Lily sitting in a tree," started Sirius obnoxiously, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

I cracked an eye open to glare at him. I'm trying to sleep here! Besides, I don't like Evans. In fact, I hate her. Okay, not hate- I'm too nice of a bloke for _that_. But I really dislike her- to about the same degree she detests me. How my supposedly best- friend- the one who knows me as well as I know myself- doesn't catch that, I've no clue.

"Awwww… Look Remus- Jamesie's blushing!!"

I turned redder. And most definitely NOT in a blushing way. I was flat- out annoyed.

"Shut up!"

"Oh- is Jamie getting defensive about his girl?"

"No! You know I don't like Evans! She's stiff and cold and a total know- it- all- I mean, she glares daggers at anyone who comes within four feet of her!"

"Is that what she does to you, James? How does it make you feel?"asked Sirius, comically adopting the tone of a psycho- wizard. He frowned, suddenly serious. "You know, James, you really shouldn't judge her on appearances…"

"_What_ are you talking about?!"

Sirius grinned. "Well, you said she was stiff. You're too young to think about how flexible she is anyways…"

I groaned. That's Sirius for you. He'd turn anything you say into something… twisted. Of course, you had to be just as twisted to understand what he meant. Soon, the two of us were laughing (over what exactly, I've no idea), and Remus was sporting a grin quite similar to Sirius's earlier one.

**Next Day- Normal P.O.V.**

Severus and Lily were the only ones answering questions for Slughorn, who was praising their Potions skills yet again. They were both wearing smug smiles. James, sitting at the back with the rest of the Marauders, rolled his eyes as Lily answered another question. He watched moodily as she recited something about how potions read a person's character to give a certain taste when James felt a piece of parchment poke at his arm. He looked down to see a note written in Sirius's messy scrawl.

_Stop drooling- you look like a lovesick puppy._

He decided the note wasn't worth bothering to answer. James' eyes flicked between Lily and Severus for the rest of class.

**At the Great Hall for lunch… **

"Honestly James, you really did look like a lovesick puppy." Sirius was talking in between each inhalation of food.

"It's called looking disgusted," James argued, also speaking between huge bites.

"Well, the look was certainly disgust_ing_."

"You know, James, it really did look like you were staring…" Remus said thoughtfully. He was eating at a much slower pace.

"I was glaring. _Glaring_- not staring."

"Then I recommend you don't 'glare' at any of the guys. James, why can't you be honest about it and just admit it? It'd make things a lot easier."

"Admit what? That I like her? I don't!"

"James…" Sirius said in warning.

"No!"

They ate in silence for the rest of lunch, except for some small talk between Remus and Peter.

James decided to bring food up to the dorms for dinner. Thoughts filled his mind as he ate alone on his bed.

_Why did Sirius and Remus think that he liked Lily? Did they really think he was lying? _

A bite of mashed potatoes and gravy.

_But he's never lied to them. He wouldn't lie over a girl either. In fact, he usually shared his interactions with girls over dinner. _

Some treacle tart.

_Did he really look like a love- sick puppy? Sirius could usually tell when he was feeling moody or annoyed. _

Several bites off a turkey drumstick.

_How could he think it was something else besides a glare?_

Needless to say, James didn't sleep well that night. He should have though, because the next day he would have to deal with a whole lot worse.


	2. A Bad Start

Ch. 2

James woke up at three the next morning. There was no way he was getting back to his beloved sleep. So, he dressed and grabbed his broom to take a fly around the Quidditch field. He always thought clearer on the field.

Lily woke an hour and a half later, as usual. She liked to shower and get ready for school before she came out to watch the sunrise. This way, she got all the hot water and fresh food for breakfast too. Squinting at the sky, she saw a small figure flying around the pitch. She rolled her eyes- Who else would by flying at this time? _The idiot…. He's probably been up since midnight… He'll get a cold the way he's working…_

James, feeling slightly better, was unaware of anyone watching him. He slowed down to a stop to watch the sunrise. He used to practice quidditch with his dad all day before he came to Hogwarts. They would get up before dawn to have breakfast, and watch the sunrise before they played. After a day of drills, they would watch the sun set too. James had grown apart from his dad since he started Hogwarts, but he still liked to watch the sun rise or set when he could.

They watched the sun rise together. After about forty- five minutes, James turned on broom and flew one slow lap before heading back to his dorm. Lily was stuck not wanting to let go of the moment, but not knowing why.

"POTTER!"

James turned his head back to see someone sticking their head out a window. Obviously, this was the person that called to him. He reluctantly flew toward the window.

Lily, just realizing what she had done, was panicking. What was she supposed to say? By then, James had reached her window.

"Evans?"

She looked up with wide eyes. James, feeling a little pity, decided to beat down his curiosity. Playing it down, he grinned and spoke in a joking tone.

"You called?"

"Um… yeah…" Lily looked down. Curse him for being so relaxed!

"…"

"So… Is there a reason you called me over?"

"No… Uh- I thought you were someone else…."

"Oh…." James nodded as if in understanding. "Er… then why did you call that person 'Potter'?"

Lily deflated. She was stuck. "Um… I didn't say Potter- it was um..." She garbled something that sounded remotely like 'otter' and slammed the window down. She slid down the wall and closed her eyes. That was a bad start to the day…

Outside, James was scrambling to maintain balance. He had jumped backwards when the window slammed shut, and had almost fallen off his broom. When he was safely back on, he stared at the window. Shaking his head, he flew back to his dorm. Inside, three boys were making a mess of their room- yelling and throwing pillows and such around. When he entered the frenzied room, everyone froze. There was a pause, and then…

"Where have you been?" (Remus)

"We thought you were going off yourself or something, you oaf."(Sirius)

"Chocolate?" (Peter)

They looked at him expectantly, clearly with much more on their tongues. James, still frozen, thought _This is going to be a bad day… _


	3. To a Far More Confusing Day

Ch. 3

James had just escaped from the barrage of questions, insults, and heaps of food that had continued on into the Great Hall. He used some lowly excuse about needing to use the restroom- he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings- his desperation to get out of there and his lack of sleep were catching up with him.

He walked aimlessly through the hallways. He ended up somewhere near the library (not that he knew it- he hadn't set foot in there since fourth year.). Lily, walking out while attempting to stuff more books into her already overflowing bag, almost bumped into him. Only for James's reflexes had he shot out his arm in time to stop them from crashing into each other. Lily, surprised, looked up.

"Oh... um... hi." She squeaked, about to run.

"Wait." Lily froze reluctantly.

Somewhere in James's dazed state, he vaguely remembered his questions from the night before.

"Wait- do you think I look like a love- sick puppy?"

Lily, confused, "What?"

James looked up as if in exasperation before pointing at his face and glaring at the wall behind Lily. "Do I look like a love- sick puppy?"

Lily, now scared, "N-no… "

James relaxed a bit and walked away, throwing a "Thank you!" over his shoulder.

Lily shook her head and walked off to her first class for the day, somewhat relieved.

Her relief did not last for long. In every class she had with James, she was paired up with him for a project of some sort. But at least, they had gone back to their normal bickering and ignoring each other. That was, until Potions. James, fully recovered from that morning, was chopping up some strange sticky fungi. Lily was stirring and counting under her breath. They occasionally glared at each other, but were for the most part completely focused on their task.

James was pulling at a particularly stubborn part of the fungus, when a ball of paper landed in the cauldron. Lily cursed- the paper could do an unknown amount of damage to the potion. She quickly reached in with some tongs to pull it out and continued stirring. James, oblivious, finally managed to pull the fungi away from the cutting board only to find it stuck to his hands. Lily, looked over to see what was taking so long with the fungus, and let out a small snort. She reached over to take the fungus. James glared, but didn't say a word as the spores retracted from his fingers. Lily breathed on the fungus and dropped it into the cauldron without any problems.

James stared. "How did you do that?"

Lily looked over disdainfully. "The book says that carbon dioxide has a depressing affect on _the _fungus._"_

"Oh."

They worked until the period was over. James packed quickly and was about to leave when Lily called him back. She was about to finish packing as well, and was holding a piece of parchment away from with the tips of her fingers.

"What is this?"

"Um.. A piece of parchment?"

"NO! I meant… Never mind."

James, confused, nodded and left, only to be attacked by Sirius for the second time that day. "Did you get the note back?"

"Note?" That must have been the slip of parchment Lily had been holding. Shivers ran down James's spine. Marauder notes should never be viewed by the public.

"Yeah- it fell in the cauldron." Sirius was watching James warily. This was important. If it was read by anyone besides James, he would most likely be killed. Actually, he's probably be killed either way, but that was beside the point.

_It fell in the cauldron. That would explain Lily holding it as far from her as possible._

James ran back into the classroom. Lily was reading the note.

"Um… I need that back. Thank you." He snatched the note from her and turned to walk out.

"James- you like me?"


	4. Ending With a Little Magic

Ch.4

* * *

"No!"

Lily looked confused. Quite honestly, she had no idea what to feel. James had grown out of the annoying little kid he had been, and he was a lot nicer these days. But that didn't erase all the bad history they had… She didn't like _him_… But if he liked her, would it be that bad? And what about this note?

James was reading the note over again. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

_You like her- tell her. Stop using ploys like the sticky mold thing._

_It's low and it's giving us a bad name… :P_

"Merlin- this is so_ weird."_

James looked up. "Tell me about it."

Lily continued, "I mean, we never even talked much- we argued more than anything. And then Sirius- this is Sirius's work, right?- comes in…"

James broke in, "Um- I didn't really mean to actually _tell me about it_. You know that, right?"

Lily shot him a dark look. "That's exactly what I mean- I mean, I know that some guys annoy the girls they like, but we just never liked each other." Right then, something clicked in her head. "Wait a sec- does this have anything to do with your question this morning?"

James, lost, said, "What question?"

"Something about a love- sick puppy?" God, she felt so silly saying it out loud.

James, the memory just dawning on him, was feeling even more humiliated. "Hehe.. About that… um.. Sorta?"

"But if you like me…"

"I told you I didn't!!"

"You did? Oh- well, that works out then."Lily felt oddly deflated. But everything did work out right. This was the way it was supposed to be. She looked up. "Why don't we call a truce? We've both grown up, and it'd be childish to hold grudges from when we eleven on to adulthood."

"Yeah- that'd be nice."James smiled. "I never held grudges against you though… "

"Me neither, but at least we can make some effort to not argue now."

"That sounds nice," James repeated.

"Cool."

James offered her his hand.

"To lunch, my lady?" James asked, offering his arm and a crooked smile.

Lily smiled back, "Yes, thank you."

They turned to head out. Outside, Sirius was scrambling from his position by the crack underneath the door. As he jumped up, he hit his head on the side of the doorway. Sirius let out an involuntary yelp before hopping away as fast as possible. Just as Remus was about to ask Sirius why he was hopping on one leg when he hurt his head, not his foot, Lily and James shot out of the classroom with wands drawn. Sirius froze. He could definitely tell James's glare from a love- struck gaze now.

"Sugarhoneyicedtea."

* * *

_Hi! I want to say sorry for these short chapters. I used to despise short chapters like the ones I've been posting (back when I was reading, not writing). I'm definitely gaining a whole lot of new ideas as an author. I have so much more respect for those authors out there that are posting like, five pages a chapter or more. I have no idea how you guys do it. Oh, and those authors with oh, about 32 chapters in a story. _

_Also, I want to say again that I'm not quite happy with this story. I don't have a great sense of humor- so, this will be the last story chapter for this one. I'll add in an epilogue to wrap it up, but I think that's it. We'll see how it goes. Now, to the main point- I'd really like to see this story at the best it could be. So, if anyone wants to take a shot at writing something up with an idea like this in mind- I'd be happy to direct people to your site. The only thing I ask is to credit me with the idea. For people who don't have a fanfiction account, but want to try it- leave me your email address in a review so that I can contact you. I'll publish it your name (or penname- whichever you prefer). _

_Thanks for reading! And sorry for how long this note is (I detested long A/ Ns too- before I started writing them)._

_Anon_


	5. Epilogue: And Life Goes On

_I decided I wanted a lighter ending than the one I had before, so here's this one. The original epilogue is the next chapter._

Epilogue

Sirius did recover after several weeks in the Hospital Wing. He never did recover, however, from James' and Lily's glares… or any threat from either them with their wands. (For years after, he would continue to twitch slightly whenever they so much as slipped their hands into their pockets… Not that he would admit it.)

Impressed as they were with each other's magical powers, James and Lily forged a wary friendship that grew stronger over the course of the year. That didn't stop their small rivalry, though- if anything, it fueled it all the more. Of course, they both knew when to team up against certain people should such an opportune time come...

"Sirius- I am sorry."

Silence.

"Sirius…"

"Sirius… Come on! Talk to me!"

All he got was a slightly frustrated look.

"You know, it might help if you took of that Silencing Charm you put on him the other day. I think Madame Pomfrey refused to take it off because of Sirius's history with her."

James whirled around to see Lily standing behind him, with an amused smirk gracing her face. A goofy grin spread across his face. She stepped down a couple of steps and glided to where the two boys stood, pulling out her wand as she walked. Sirius's left eye began to twitch frantically, but his right eye remained fixed on where Lily's hand had slipped into James'. In fact, he looked rather deranged, but when Lily noticed what exactly he was staring at, she nudged James lightly with her elbow. Smirking, James pulled out his wand as well, and with identical knowing looks on their faces, Sirius couldn't help but feel just slightly, slightly, afraid.

He took off running down the corridor as fast as he could. Red, green, and one hot pink ray of light shot after him, just barely missing him. He felt a pinch at his throat, and then screams pierced the corridor. He continued to run forward. He did not want to witness James and Lily torturing all the other poor souls in this hallway. He should probably warn Peeves away…

As his screams faded away, James and Lily bent over laughing.

"Nice aim with the lights. It really looked like you missed on accident."

"Thank you. I think the hot pink was a nice touch. I wish I could have a close- up of his face when you took off the Silencing Charm though. The echoes must have really gotten to him."

"I know! Although, I think I should have-" Lily broke off when they heard screaming again. With devilish smiles, they turned slowly to face Sirius again, wands drawn.

"You… Must… Run…"Sirius panted. "Jay…. L… Jail… Is Coming…" His eyes widened when he realized who was standing in front of him. "Noooo!" he sobbed, sounding almost heartbroken. "I went up and down so many stairs… Oh, woe is me!" And with that pathetic sob, he continued off careening down the hallway...

A pause. "Jail?"

"I guess that's his way of combining the first letters of our names."

Another pause.

"This was way too easy."

"… And to think this all started because I wanted him to forgive me for sending monkey- eating hawks at him."

"Hm… Well, ready for dinner?"

"Ooh, yes. I'm starving."

Lily rolled her eyes and gave a small snort. "As always."


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

* * *

Sirius did recover after several weeks in the Hospital Wing. He never did recover, however, from James' and Lily's glares… or any threat from either them with their wands. (They never teamed up against Sirius again except for one other time- but that's a different story.)

James and Lily became good friends- and by the end of their seventh year, Lily was just as close to James as the Marauders. In fact, Lily was practically part of the Marauders (except for the pranking- no one said a thing to Lily about pranks) by the time they graduated. Over the summer, they shared their first kiss.

James spent a few years as a reserve Seeker for Puddlemere. At his last game on the field, James asked Lily to go on a date- the date where he would propose to her. Later that year, James officially resigned to become an Auror. Lily went on to be a front- line mediwitch- half fighter, half doctor, she aided both the Ministry and the Order on various missions.

James and Lily married at Hogwarts with small ceremony. They moved in with James's parents at Godric's Hollow soon after.

Remus and Peter visited when they could, but they had lives of their own to tend to. They all got together at least once a month to help Remus through his 'furry little problem' though. Sirius, despite all his claims otherwise, was quite the family man. When he was named Harry's godfather (by accident- but don't say that in front of him), Sirius virtually moved in with Lily and James. After a couple months, he was kicked out, but was let back in after about an hour.

All of them (excepting Peter) lived their lives fighting and loving, arguing and laughing, risking their lives daily and living to the fullest.


End file.
